Soft
Gone Faded

In 1989, The Stone Rosesí self-titled debut injected a breath of fresh air
into the music business. Springing from the Manchester music scene, the groupís
rapid ascent single-handedly sparked a revolution that enveloped England by
drawing attention to the countless other bands, including Inspiral Carpets and
Happy Mondays, that had been toiling by the Stone Rosesí side. After a lengthy
court battle with its record label as well as a series of scuttled plans to
tour, however, the outfit collapsed under its own weight. In the intervening
years, artists ó from Blur to Travis, from Suede to Kasabian ó have drawn
influence from the Stone Roses, twisting and turning its psychedelic,
dance-friendly, guitar-driven pop in a multitude of ways.

Soft is the latest group to get in on the act, and although it offers little
that is new on its self-titled debut Gone Faded, it, perhaps, comes the
closest to duplicating the Stone Rosesí signature style. Within the title track,
fat bass lines collide with swirling, paisley-colored atmospherics, effectively
shrouding The BeatlesíRevolver in a dance club haze. Likewise, the
insistent grooves and infectious melodies of songs like Droppiní and
Dumb Blood as well as the í60s-derived backmasking techniques employed on
Higher were assembled from the very strands of the Stone Rosesí DNA.

Of course, it would be as foolish merely to replicate the Stone Rosesí
formula as it would be impossible to ignore the various offshoots and
permutations of it that have filtered through the rock world in the intervening
years. In that regard, although Softís infatuation with the Stone Roses is
obvious, there are other elements that also are at play within its work. You
Make Me Wanna Die, for example, folds the kaleidoscopic dreaminess of Sean
Lennonís approach to recording into the driving, Brit-pop grooves of Oasis.
Similarly, U2ís ecstasy-laden forays on Zooropa and Pop are never
far from reach.

Unfortunately, Gone Fadedís problems run deeper than its lack of
distinctiveness. Not only is there not much variation among its 11 tracks, but
also the setís finest moments are located within its rock-solid opening half.
Consequently, Soft ó like many up-and-coming indie outfits ó is unable to
sustain interest in the endeavor from beginning to end because Gone Faded
runs out of steam somewhere around its midpoint.